All Wikia contributors have access to read and contribute to all* of our wikias. A number of special user roles also exist on Wikia with advanced user rights, in order to help prevent spam and vandalism. Below is a description of these rights.
Any of these may be subject to change or variation on individual wikias.
To add or remove users from these groups, use Special:UserRights. You must be a bureaucrat or admin, however.
* Some wikis are restricted to registered users.
What is a user right
A user right is a special type of permissions a user has to make some change or perform some task on a wiki. A "user rights group" is a set of permissions or user rights with the most commonly recognized user rights group being an "admin" or technically part of the sysop user rights group. A list of user rights by group can be seen at Special:ListGroupRights.
Local level
All users on the Wikia network have the ability to view and read wikia pages. Unregistered (anonymous) users also usually have the ability to edit and add pages to the wikia, though some wikias require logging into a Wikia account first.
Registered users
Users who have created an account and logged in are able to:
- Customize the appearance and features of the wikia by setting their preferences.
- Upload an image, video or other file to the wikia.
- Add pages to their watchlist, which can be used to track edits to a particular page.
- Maintain a user profile.
- Remove advertisements from all pages (except for the main page of each wikia).
Autoconfirmed users
Registered users who have been with Wikia for at least 4 days also have access to the following tools:
- No longer have to go through a captcha when inserting an external link into a page, blanking a page or creating a new account.
- Edit semi-protected pages.
Powerusers
The UserRights control panel.
This is not an actual user right, but more of an internal status flag used by Wikia. Unless otherwise noted, it grants no extra abilities or rights. It also cannot be used to filter users via Special:ListUsers.
Administrators
A screenshot of changes in the user rights log
Administrators (also known as "admins" or "sysops") are trusted users, who are generally chosen by the community and also have access to the following tools:
- All privileges from the discussion moderator and content moderator groups.
- Delete and undelete pages, as well as delete images or files.
- Lock (protect) both a page and a file so it cannot be edited or renamed by users without adminship privileges.
- Block users who are vandalizing the wikia from editing, etc.
- Grant and revoke both the chat moderator and discussion moderator rights.
- Edit the wikia's skin and format.
- Edit whitelisted MediaWiki pages.
For more details, see the Help:Administrators' how-to guide.
The state of being an administrator is also referred to as "adminship". Being an administrator makes "ADMIN" appear next to a user's name on their profile.
Bureaucrats
Bureaucrats are one level 'up' from administrators. Bureaucrats only have the ability to manipulate user rights, as well as block and unblock users, so this right is generally used in addition to the administrator group.
They have the ability to promote and revoke rollback, content moderator and administrator rights as well as appointing new bureaucrats. While they cannot directly revoke another user's bureaucrat status, they can revoke their own. Bureaucrats also have the ability to revoke a user's bot status in case the bot is malfunctioning, but community consensus is required for the addition of users's bot status.
By default, bureaucrats are not identified on their userpages. If a bureaucrat is also an admin, only "ADMIN" will show, so Special:ListUsers must be used to tell bureaucrats from normal administrators.
Bureaucrat status can only be removed by Wikia Staff, or by themselves.
Discussions Moderators
Discussions Moderators are users who have additional tools available to manage conversations in various features across the community where users are having social discussions. These tools are:
- Removing and restoring threads and replies from any user.
- Closing and reopening threads
- In the Forum feature specifically, moderators also have the ability to manage Forum boards, move threads from one board to another, and highlight and un-highlight threads.
- Moderating chat
- Deleting blog comments
- Editing and deleting article comments
Having this status causes "DISCUSSIONS MODERATOR" to appear next to the username on the user's userpage.
Content Moderators
Content Moderators are users who have additional tools available to moderate parts of the community that host the wikia community's content. These tools are:
- Deleting and moving protected pages
- Deleting and moving files
- Undeleting pages and files
- Rollback
- Reupload files
- Protecting and unprotecting pages
- Patrol pages if the community has the RecentChanges patrol feature enabled
Chat Moderators
Chat moderators are users who have chat moderator status in chat in order to moderate a wikia's chat room. They are able to block users from chat, which will kick a user out of the chat and ban them from returning until a chat moderator or an admin unbans them from the users' contributions page, or if the ban expires.
Having this status causes "CHAT MODERATOR" to appear next to the username on the user's userpage.
Rollbacks
Anyone can revert vandalism and bad-faith edits, but it takes a couple of clicks in the page history to get it done. Users with the "rollback" tool are able to undo bad edits with one click, by using the rollback link on diff pages, user contributions list, or the list of recent changes.
It is important to note that content moderators and admins already have rollback rights by default. The right can be optional for a user to have rollback and admin combined, but it will not add extra speed and strength even with slower internet connections. Users with rollback rights are just users who are not necessarily an admin.
Rollbackers (users with rollback rights) can be seen via Special:ListUsers/rollback, but they do not by default have any special title that appears on their userpage.
Founders
A wikia's founder is automatically given admin and bureaucrat rights during wikia creation. This allows them to edit the wikia's skin and format. As more contributors join, it's a good idea for founders to appoint trusted users as admins, content moderators, discussion moderators, and rollbacks.
The title of founder appears next to the founder's name even if they later abdicate their position as bureaucrat or administrator, and it overrides those titles. Founders are denoted with a "FOUNDER" banner on their profile.
Bots
A "bot" is any automated process, program, or script that makes it easier for a user to make tedious or repetitive edits and actions on a wikia. When a bot is running in quick succession, the recent changes log can sometimes be overtaken, making it harder to spot more substantial edits by regular users. Giving an account a "bot flag" will hide these edits from the recent changes list (although any editor can still choose to see them by clicking "Show bots").
On Wikia, a user who wishes to use a bot should set up a separate account for it, then talk with other users on the wiki if they approve of the creation of a bot. After discussing it with the community, the bot owner or admin can request the bot be flagged.
CheckUsers
CheckUsers have the ability to check another user's IP address, as well as the ability to check what users have edited using a particular IP address, and view the CheckUser log. This ability is generally only available to Wikia Staff, Helpers and VSTF, but on large wikias where sockpuppetry is a major problem, access can be considered.
Global level
Staff
Staff are Wikia employees and they have full access to all Wikia wikis. They are shown in Special:Listusers/staff on any wiki, and often have a special Staff signature () when they sign their comments. Staff have tools to support them in helping to maintain all of Wikia. Please see Help:Contacting Wikia for details on how to contact Wikia Staff. These users will have a "STAFF" tag on their profile.
Vanguard
Vanguard is a group of Wikia users who have volunteered to help make Wikia's content available on the widest possible range of devices. To do so, Vanguard users have a few extra rights that allow them to edit a Wikia community's interface. See Special:ListUsers/vanguard for a member list. Vanguard users will have a "VANGUARD" tag on their profile.
VSTF
The Volunteer Spam Task Force, abbreviated to "VSTF", are experienced and involved Wikians who combat cross-wikia spam and vandalism. Therefore, they have extended user rights on all Wikia communities, including access to many additional tools that help them to detect spam and vandalism. See Special:ListUsers/vstf for a member list. VSTF users will have a "VSTF" tag on their profile.
Helpers
Helpers are volunteers working to support and improve non-English Wikia communities. Because they exercise staff tasks in their respective language, they share many user rights with Wikia staff. See Special:ListUsers/helper for a member list. Users in this group will have a "HELPER" tag on their profile and a special tag () in their signatures.
Community Council
The Community Council is Wikia's product testing and feedback group. Members of the Community Council are selected by Wikia Staff to provide preliminary feedback on new features and products that are under development. See Special:ListUsers/council for a member list. Users in this group will have a tag on their accounts named "COUNCILOR".
Authenticated
Authenticated users are the official accounts of large companies, typically from the video game industry. The group signifies that the veracity of the account was checked for by Staff. They are users who are notable or famous, such as a game designer or developer, or a renowned musician. A user must be verified by Wikia Staff as legitimately being that important person before they get this right. Users in this group will have an "AUTHENTICATED" tag on their profiles.
Volunteer Developers
The Volunteer Developers program is an initiative that aims to enable technically skilled members of the Wikia community to contribute to Wikia not only by editing and wiki-administration, but also by fixing bugs and improving Wikia's software. These users will have a "VOLUNTEER DEVELOPERS" tag on their profiles.
Wikia Stars
Wikia Stars are recognized as leaders within their communities and as experts on their fandoms. They may be invited to join Wikia programming initiatives or even, in some cases, travel to live events. Stars are denoted with a "WIKIA STAR" banner on their profile, but it does not come with any global rights.
How do you grant admin rights to another user?
Granting admin rights on your wiki
Watch this quick video on how to grant another user admin rights.
Why can't I give another user privileges?
Users cannot access some tools when they don't have user rights. If a user has their bureaucrat or admin rights removed by Wikia Staff, they cannot re-grant them back. They can be removed for one of the following reasons:
- The rights were abused and vandalized.
- A user is inactive (by request of the community).
- User request.
- Found to be as an alternative account (sockpuppet).
- A user was denied from adopting a wikia and still has it on a wikia for one of the following reasons:
- The user was founded, adopted or given admin access on a wikia and has not waited 60 days and sneaked for admin rights by telling an admin to grant user rights on the wikia even if contributions are good.
- An admin granted the user rights to a user and someone contacted a staff if a user doesn't have enough edits.
- A user was blocked from another wikia.
- Editing MediaWiki interfaces into nonsense, spam, harassment, hate speech, threats, vandalism and more.
- Mass promoting users with few edits.
What can't blocked users do?
If a user is suspected of breaking Wikia's {{#NewWindowLink:http://www.wikia.com/index.php?title=Terms_of_Use%7CTerms of Use}} or a local community's guidelines, they may be blocked by staff or a local admin. Among other restrictions, blocked users can't:
- Create, edit or move pages
- Delete or protect pages
- Upload files
- Change the rights of others
- Add blog posts or add comments
- Perform some admin-specific actions
In some cases, blocked users are also prevented from creating new accounts and editing their own message wall/user talk page.
How can I find different users?
See Special:ListUsers and choose the "administrators", "rollback", or "bureaucrats" check boxes, and click "Show". You will also see a column showing the date of the user's most recent edit, so you can find users that have been active most recently.
Can user rights messages be edited?
You can customize the user rights message by altering MediaWiki:Userrights-groups-help on your wikia.
Further help and feedback
- Browse and search other help pages at Help:Contents
- Check Fandom Community Central for sources of further help and support
- Check Contacting Fandom for how to report any errors or unclear steps in this article